Power outages do happen. OPALCO continues to improve the reliability of the system but there are circumstances beyond our control such as weather, car accidents, equipment failure and bird/animal events that can cause outages. With OPALCO’s transition to the new automated metering infrastructure (AMI), outages are less frequent and can be resolved quickly. When scheduled outages are necessary, OPALCO calls members in the area to be affected in advance.
To prepare for scheduled or unscheduled outages:
- Install surge protection to safeguard electronic, computer and other sensitive equipment and appliances. Members are responsible for protecting their own equipment and appliances.
- Place flashlights in handy locations.
- Keep an old-style phone (doesn’t require electricity) in the home.
- Keep important phone numbers (911, doctors, relatives, neighbors, friends) by the phone.
- Know where to find each utitlity shut-off (electricity, water, propane) and know how to turn each one off. Keep the necessary tools for each shut-off within reach.
- Assemble an outage box of supplies including: flashlilghts, batteries, portable radio, at least one gallon of water, small supply of food, playing cards and board games – and any supplies essential to your particular household’s comfort and needs.
- Make sure you have access to extra blankets/sleeping bags, warm clothes (esp. socks and hats), firewood and kindling, matches, manual can opener, bottled water and canned/dried food.
- If you have an automatic garage door opener, check with the instructions or manufacturer to learn how to open the door without power.
- If you have an electric well pump, plan ahead to meet your water needs. In the case of a planned outage, turn pump off at breaker (may be separate from house breakers).